Hanoi..... God help us

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We travelled to Hanoi from Hoi an via air as the cost was only minimal and meant we could get two days in Hanoi.

After arriving we got into a taxi for the four of us, the taxi driver seemed very happy and was welcoming but then he started to take photos of us in the cab. He turned the music up really high and dancing like a crazy person then his driving became more irrational than they do here. After him purposely scaring us and driving into oncoming traffic the journey became scary, we requested for the music to be turned down and the mood suddenly shifted, he started banging on the window and it put a bad feeling on the 45 minute journey to Hanoi.

After 40 minutes we arrived at our hostel again down a dark alley with locals cooking chickens feet, worms and chickens roaming aimlessly, this was backpackers central. The staff were very accommodating and we were told about an hours free beer at 8pm, and a pub crawl, we dragged our backpacks up to the 5th floor on entering our room there was a funny smell that filled the hostel, but a great atmosphere. So we headed for our hours free local beerband socialising with a few people from Australia and Canada and this place sold triple balloons (laughing gas) we didn't take part this time. We queued for the beers at the sky bar and then free shots were given on the hour. The plan was to freshen up and head out. Myself (Becci) had not slept in two days so decided to stay in and sleep with one of the other girls. Nad and Amy were strong and did us proud by continuing on the crawl!



The next day after exploring Hanoi our heart wasn't in it so decided to go to Sapa (far north) this was a 2 day trek with a home stay, we had all meals included and the cost for travel,meals accommodation was $55. We were told it was going to be cold but hadn't prepared as all our clothes were beach wear. We arrived on a sleeper bus through the night, it was cramped but a lot of Aussies, Canadians, and British people were on. After arriving at 4:00am we were left to wonder what was going on, so just slept until 5:30 where we were met by our guide. Sapa to be continued

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